L.A.-based photographer selects winners for Open Shutter’s new show

Juror Craig Semetko selected Bayfield photographer James Cammack’s “Elephant Trainer” for Best in Show in Open Shutter Gallery’s 3rd annual “Exposure” juried exhibition.

Courtesy of Open Shutter Gallery

Juror Craig Semetko selected Bayfield photographer James Cammack’s “Elephant Trainer” for Best in Show in Open Shutter Gallery’s 3rd annual “Exposure” juried exhibition.

Craig Semetko is as at home behind the lens as anyone who has ever picked up a camera. But his latest job for Open Shutter Gallery took him far out of his comfort zone.

“I don’t like judging anyone,” Semetko said earlier this week from a friend’s home in Chicago.

Open Shutter owner Margy Dudley invited Semetko, a Los Angeles-based professional photographer and writer, to serve as juror for the gallery’s third annual juried exhibition “Exposure.” Semetko had hoped to attend tonight’s opening, but he hit a deer with his car in North Dakota last week and has been stranded in the Windy City since. The accident also interrupted his work on “America: E Pluribus Unum,” a photo and book project that has sent Semetko coast-to-coast for the last year and a half. His Ford Escape hybrid had logged more than 4,000 miles on the trip before he hit the deer.

“Like all Americans, I felt the country was polarized, and I want to get back to what that motto means – from many, one,” he said.

“I’m a man with a camera driving around the U.S.A. trying to recapture history with slice-of-life photographs, and I hope when it’s finished to show that we’re all still one country.”

Durango is a favorite getaway for Semetko, who has shown his work at Open Shutter for several years and also held a book release party at the gallery in 2010 for his collection UNPOSED. For “Exposure,” Dudley and gallery manager Brandon Donahue sent a global call and received more than 300 submissions from all over the U.S. and from India, Israel, Canada and other countries. An Open Shutter committee narrowed those to 50 finalists. Semetko chose the award-winners:

“It’s all clichés, but I really did like them all and they’re all winners,” Semetko said. “I’ve done it before, too. They say it feels good just to be nominated and they are winners – they got accepted into the show. Hopefully, I looked at it with some objectivity but I have opinions, and I’m sure others do, too.”

Donahue said he was happy to see Semetko choose a few local winners. The images were sent to Semetko electronically so there was no conspiracy to make that happen. The juror had no way of knowing whose photos came from where.

“I’m always impressed at the talent here in Durango,” Donahue said. “When I saw (James Cammack’s winning photo) I was surprised to see that he lives in Bayfield. That’s so cool.”

“Two” won an Excellence Award for Durango’s Samuel Newton in Open Shutter Gallery’s “Exposure” juried exhibition.

Courtesy of Open Shutter Gallery

“Two” won an Excellence Award for Durango’s Samuel Newton in Open Shutter Gallery’s “Exposure” juried exhibition.

If you go

“Exposure,” the 3rd annual juried exhibit at Open Shutter Gallery, 735 Main Ave., through Dec. 6. Juror: Craig Semetko. An opening reception will be held from 5-8 p.m. today. For more information, call 382-8355 or visit www.openshuttergallery.com.